Does Joey Gallo Make Sense for the Minnesota Twins?

[Ted Schwerzler]

It’s big bat week at Twins Daily, and there’s undoubtedly no bigger bat than Joey Gallo when it comes to power potential. He had a poor 2022 season, but at just 29 years old, does a deal with the Minnesota Twins make sense?

Image courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Realistically the Twins are inundated with left-handed bats in the outfield. Alex Kirilloff, Max Kepler, and Trevor Larnach all hit from that side of the plate. With Byron Buxton as the lone right-handed hitter, manager Rocco Baldelli could use more from the right side of the dish. Given what Gallo’s market could be, and the banning of the shift, it may make sense to bring him in.

There’s been more than a few instances in which the hulking slugger has had fun at Target Field. During his All-Star Futures Game experience in Minnesota, Gallo blasted a home run through a truck window beyond the right field wall. Since then, he has hit some tape measure shots to nearly the same part of the park, including one for the New York Yankees this season.

Primarily Gallo has played in the corner outfield, but despite his immense power, his athletic ability has been shown in centerfield as well. Gallo won Gold Gloves in both 2020 and 2021 while rating out well defensively. He may not be Buxton in center, but few people are. He can also play the designated hitter role and has handled first base plenty.

Despite 2022 going so poorly with the Yankees, and not much better with the Dodgers, he’s only a year removed from a 121 OPS+. Despite the goofy statistics we saw during the pandemic-shortened 2020, Gallo actually performed much better in 2019. His 145 OPS+ was a career-high and marked a run of three straight seasons in which he was above league average.

There were more than a few times last year when Baldelli’s lineup stalled out. Despite boasting plenty of internally developed hitters, and names such as Carlos Correa and Gary Sanchez, far too often runs were hard to come by. Manufacturing runs wasn’t something Minnesota was good at a year ago, and they doubled down on the poor showing by failing to hit many home runs either.

For the first time in his career, Gallo will face defenses that are unable to shift him as they have. He may see all three outfielders play on the right side of center field, but the infielders will need to remain in their given positions. For a guy with a strong launch angle and hard-hit rate, he could see additional hits dropping in, and raise his overall numbers to places we haven’t yet seen.

What Gallo’s market looks like will be interesting. He made just over $10 million last season, and despite coming off the down year, someone will certainly see an opportunity for a fresh start. The massive power potential is there, and the plate discipline isn’t bad either.

What do you think? Would you take a shot on the former All-Star?

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[PDX Twin]

No no no no no no no no no! We have enough left-handed striker-outers!

[mnfireman]

That would be a big NO!! 

[Mike Sixel]

No. 

[Richie the Rally Goat]

10 minutes ago, PDX Twin said:

No no no no no no no no no! We have enough left-handed striker-outers!

Larnach and Wallner strike out a bunch, but Gordon, Kepler and Kirilloff don’t. One of those 5 would need to go to make room for Gallo. I assume it would be Kep.

they would also still need an improvement at RH 4th OF that can play CF.

I could still get behind a Gallo signing.

[jmlease1]

I'm not particularly interested in Gallo. Partly because I think it understates where he is as a player to say "yeah, he had a garbage year in 2022, but in 2021 put up at 121 OPS+". Gallo's collapse started as soon as he reached NY; he was bad for them in 2021, so this has been a problem for him for longer than just 2022.

Gallo hasn't really been the guy to have a complete season with success, and it's one of the reasons I'd stay away, especially since he's a lefty bat and fixes almost none of the team's offensive problems. In 2021 he was an impact power bat for 95 games in TX (and then collapsed). In 2020, he was dreadful in the pandemic season...but still played 57 games, so it's not like we're judging on 100 ABs. In 2019, he was a real force...but only played 70 games (not enough time for the hot streaks to end?). in 2018, he wasn't awful, but was he all that impactful? The OPS+ of 109 doesn't make my socks roll up & down. Gallo's rep is based on a great 70 game run in 2019 and a hot start to the season in 2021, but outside of that...there's not a lot of there there.

I'd rather bet on Trevor Larnach than spend money on Joey Gallo, who doesn't make a lot of sense from a fit perspective and there's a real risk that he simply can't make enough contact to be impactful. Why not go with Matt Wallner, who's also lefty, has light tower power, and real problems making contact?

hard pass.

[CRF]

NOOOOOOOO!!!

[mnfireman]

FanGraphs/CrowdSource predicts 1/$10 MM for Gallo, I assume a value building contract.

Gordon, Kirilloff, Wallner and Larnach = $750 K * 4 = $3 MM

Kepler = $8.5 MM

Current Twins total = $11.5 MM for LH OF. 

Again, I say no to Gallo as the team should get better production overall from internal resources.

[chpettit19]

Would I be out there trying to get him signed today? No. Not at all. But if February rolls around and he's still sitting there and I can get a decent deal for Kepler I'd certainly consider it. Wouldn't lose anything defensively or offensively with swapping Kepler out for Gallo. They're different offensive players and get to their OPS numbers in different ways, but overall they've been awfully similar in terms of OPS type stats in their careers.

Strong no to just adding him to the team, but if you can get something valuable for Kepler while replacing Kepler with Gallo in right it'd be an interesting plan with some real upside.

[Twins GFP]

I was just looking at Gallo the other day.  I think he is a candidate for improvement in 2023, but this would be a fairly huge gamble by the FO.

If you could get him on an incentive laden contract I would be ok.  Something like 1/$5 with incentives based on AB.  Gotta keep that batting average over .220

Signing him would provide a level of insurance for Gordon/Kepler...

[EGFTShaw]

I am JUST TIRED of retreads and reclamation projects.

I get the point that this has been the Twins MO for decades if not forever.  Griffin would squeeze the players so much they bled before going to another team that at least appreciated them.  Pohlads have been better, but marginally so until last year.

I also know you need role players that can produce and everyone is not going to be an All Star.

With such a clean slate right now, I want to see them go big, Paul Bunyon Big, or fuhgeddaboudit and go home.  This King Kong Bundy experiments for either pitchers or positional players need to stop.
 

[Mike Sixel]

Just put Wallner in RF (and deal Kepler for a prospect). Find a right handed hitting OF for left/center if you really want another OF.....but they have a lot of options (not to mention Austin Martin) already in the system.

They should be looking at DH / C / SP / SS.

[mnfireman]

Plenty of bats to cover DH.

[Major League Ready]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

Just put Wallner in RF (and deal Kepler for a prospect). Find a right handed hitting OF for left/center if you really want another OF.....but they have a lot of options (not to mention Austin Martin) already in the system.

They should be looking at DH / C / SP / SS.

Have to agree in the hierarchy of needs, Another LH corner OFer is at the bottom of the list.  The more this off-season goes on the more I hope for Rodon or Senga.  Add one power arm to the BP with Duran / Lopez / Alcala and you have a good pitching staff.  Varland and SWR can be transitioned over the course of 2023 and we won't be in bad shape if Gray / Mahle both leave.  They are likely to be quite good for several years in this scenario.  That said ... if they can get value for Kepler and then bring in Gallo, that would give us depth in the OF / DH and it is possible he could rebound offensively.  

[chpettit19]

25 minutes ago, mnfireman said:

Plenty of bats to cover DH.

Gallo isn't a DH. He's a multi-time gold glove winning outfielder. If they signed him and put him at DH it'd be the worst move they've ever made.

[mnfireman]

Just now, chpettit19 said:

Gallo isn't a DH. 

Read comment directly above mine

Just now, chpettit19 said:

 If they signed him and put him at DH it'd be the worst move they've ever made.

Pretty bold statement!! 

Or will it be "Challenge accepted" ?

[chpettit19]

2 minutes ago, mnfireman said:

Read comment directly above mine

Pretty bold statement!! 

Or will it be "Challenge accepted" ?

I see. You not quoting them made it appear that you were saying you didn't think they needed Gallo cuz he was a DH. I follow now.

I sure hope they don't accept any "dumbest move they've made" challenges! From me or anyone else.

[mikelink45]

I could not even read all you wrote - Joey Gallo is just what we hate about Sano.  We do not need another strikeout artist.  

8 years and his total slash line is 199/325/469.  I cannot stand the idea he is a very big NO

[baul0010]

2 hours ago, JoeMauerBurnerAccount said:

Like who?

He'd be a left handed Miguel Sano.  If Sano's not around to strike out 185 times a year... We might as well add Gallo. 

[Riverbrian]

I'm trying to understand the logic in this discussion. 

If we trade Kepler with a career .232 BA and 1 year left at 8.5M on his contract before a club option at 10m. 

We could acquire Joey Gallo with a .199 BA for a 1 year deal at 10M to replace him. 

We hope that Kepler will benefit from the banning of the shift, while we believe that Gallo could benefit from the banning of the shift. 

It's been my experience in life that treading water doesn't get you very far. 

One other thing... I've seen a lot of comments about a potential Kepler trade. I assume this sentiment comes from his performance the past two years. If he performed well, we wouldn't be talking about a potential trade. 

So to recap:

We have lots of folks that want to trade Kepler.

We also have lots of folks that list Kepler as our 2023 RF and 2nd best outfielder. 

And... And... We have lots of folks who say OF is not a top priority. ?

 

 

[rv78]

YES, ABSOLUTELY! We need more guys in the lineup who swing for the fences, seldomly making contact and hitting below the mendoza line. Is there anyone else who you guys will write about, that absolutely makes NO sense to add to this team? He is a left-handed version of SaNO.

[ashbury]

Do we know of a cause for his poor 2022?  Do we have reason to think that cause is gone?  If it's just a hope that 2019 Joey still exists, I say no, he doesn't make sense.

[Doctor Gast]

One would suppose his bad season was NYY fault. That's what we thought about Sanchez and he hit worse here. I wouldn't take that chance personally.

[DocBauer]

No.

If he was RH and available for around $9-10M I'd seriously consider it despite the fact he simply can't hit. The power is there, the defense is there, and he usually holds an acceptable OB%. But, sorry, I'm in favor of moving Kepler to free up $ for other additions, and for allowing Larnach, Wallner, and Kirilloff room to play/develop/produce. I mean, we need to add someone better than Garlick at some point to balance the OF, but that's not Gallo.

If Kepler is moved, and all the other needs are addressed, I could see a "swing" back to adding a LH power bat if he's there. But adding another LH OF, even as a potential replacement for a traded Kepler, is waaaay down on my list. And really, why not just keep Kepler at that point?

[joefish]

No.

NEXT!

[Blyleven2011]

The question is does it make sense ...

To me it makes no sense , he's lefthanded in the box and we are already too lefthanded  , he strikes out alot  , if the yankees didn't want to keep him , I'm definitely not interested ...

Three strikes and your out ...

[Whitey333]

No way should they sign Gallo.  Waste of time and team resources.  

[Greglw3]

WHy not sign a career .298 hitter for LF, a potential batting title contender in Michael Brantley? Then you could have two Luis Arraez’s batting 1-2.

Binentendi would be good too but Brantley would be more affordable.

And outfield of Brantley, Buxton and Wallner  would have strong potential. I guess Garlick could take on the tougher lefties, I would have preferred A.J. Pollock. They also need a serviceable CF backup for Buxton. Without spending too much money for that, they could look to Nick Gordon to fill that role.

I’d sign Correa for SS with Swanson #1 backup. And I’d go hard for Willson Contreras.

Could Robbie Ray be pried away from the Mariners? Burnes, Gallen? They’re gonna have to move their payroll up to $160MM and I firmly believe Jim Pohlad would do that.

OF Brantley, Buxton, Wallner - (Garlick - Gordon)

3B Urshela SS-Correa 2B-Polanco or Julien 1B Arraez

C Contreras

DH Haniger?

Gordon LF/CF/2B/DH

 

 

 

[twinfan]

One thing most are forgetting is that Gallo is a very good outfielder with a very good arm. However, I would not want to add him to what we have already. We are probably saying good-bye to Sano though he could be a decent DH and bats from the right side. Then, as others have said, we are loaded with left handed batters. While I would vote "no" with our current roster, if we made changes by trading some of the lefty batters (which I would not do), then Gallo might be worth taking with a cheap contract. But there are other fish out there.

[TwinsAce]

20 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

I'm trying to understand the logic in this discussion. 

If we trade Kepler with a career .232 BA and 1 year left at 8.5M on his contract before a club option at 10m. 

We could acquire Joey Gallo with a .199 BA for a 1 year deal at 10M to replace him. 

We hope that Kepler will benefit from the banning of the shift, while we believe that Gallo could benefit from the banning of the shift. 

It's been my experience in life that treading water doesn't get you very far. 

One other thing... I've seen a lot of comments about a potential Kepler trade. I assume this sentiment comes from his performance the past two years. If he performed well, we wouldn't be talking about a potential trade. 

So to recap:

We have lots of folks that want to trade Kepler.

We also have lots of folks that list Kepler as our 2023 RF and 2nd best outfielder. 

And... And... We have lots of folks who say OF is not a top priority. ?

 

 

I don't think Gallo makes sense unless somehow cheaper than 8 million.  That said, one could argue that they would prefer a strikeout with more power potential over a grounder to 2nd base.  Gallo also might have a higher ceiling than Kepler at this point.  I think the argument for Gallo is also under the assumption trading Kepler brings back a player of need...backup SS, RH OF, backup C, RP... (Which remains to be seen.)  Gallo would provide better defense than our current non-Kepler corner OF players.

But like you said, this seems like treading water in many ways.